ok, before i get to today’s fantastic story/anecdote allow me to say:
a-dj’ing in brussels, paris, and london was really fun. i love dj’ing. especially with the dj mixers that have the fun effects(like phasing, reverb, etc)built in. i’m a boy, so of course i like tech-toys.
b-thanks to everyone who came out for a bit of a rave.
ok, anecdote time:
so i’m at jfk airport tonight after my 8 hour flight from heathrow. waiting at the baggage carousel until my super-industrial-strength-cool-looking-metal-tough-guy dj box comes cascading down the chute, crushing all other luggage in it’s path and making me feel kind of cool, if only for a second.
after collecting aforementioned dj box i proceed to customs. i hand them my immigration form and the very tall, very big, very tough looking customs officer says ‘come this way mr. hall’.
i’m a bit annoyed cos this means i’m going to have to unpack my luggage and show that i have neither fruits/vegetables/class-a narcotics/semtex/designer clothes/avian flu vials/etc in my luggage.
we walk over to a metal inspection table and the tall, big, tough looking customs agent says: ‘i really liked your music in ‘bourne identity’, do you have any other film music projects coming up?’
turns out that he’s a huge music fan and we proceed to spend the next 15 minutes talking about music and wlir(new-wave radio station we both grew up listening to)and his favorite bands(gang of four, killing joke, the cure)and how much he loves remixes and how he’s annoyed that it’s hard to find remixes from his favorite bands and how he wishes that more people did remixes.
he then escorted me to my car, talking about music the entire time.
so rather than being strip searched and body cavity probed and forced to unpack, i ended up having a nice conversation about new-wave and remix culture.
i’ve had other interesting music experiences with the police.
one time, for example, i was walking by teany and the police were in the middle of a big drug bust.
they had the perps(that’s me trying to sound tough, using tough cop lingo. do i sound tough?
no, i didn’t think so)handcuffed and face down on the trunk of the cop car. but then they (the cops) saw me and wanted autographs and pictures. so there i am signing autographs and taking pictures with the cops while the perps were getting impatient and wondering why the police weren’t taking them in to custody.
then there was a time i was coming into heathrow. i had a very stern looking immigration agent who asked me all sorts of probing questions. ‘what’s your reason for coming to the uk?’ ‘for how long will you be in the uk?’ ‘what line of work do you do?’ etc.
i had a show that evening, and, i kid you not, this self-same stern looking immigration agent was in the front row dancing like crazy wearing all black and fishnet stockings on his arms(a la the goth/batcave days).
and now i’m home.
welcome home.
moby